I stripped off my armor and piled it in one corner of the extended shower stall before stepping underneath the warm, gentle spray. My family’s standard of living has improved enormously over the last year. We had a safe place to live, regular meals, and even education for the kids, but the thing that I enjoyed the most was the shower. Clean, warm water to soothe my sore muscles and remove all the crud that had built up over the day. I don’t know what it was, but after I got out of the shower, I always felt a little bit better; a little more civilized.

  Once I’d scrubbed myself down, I made sure to rinse the worst of the filth off my armor. I didn’t need to spend a lot of time on it. The ultrasonic cleaner would do a better job of getting rid of the stubborn viscera, but I wanted to remove the largest bits.

  When I hosed it down, I noticed a pair of teeth embedded in one arm and a claw out of the back of the armor, which I had to wrench out before finally shutting the shower off and stepping out. They were probably souvenirs left over from the Seventeen’s ambush, and even though I’d walked away from that shitshow without any real damage, Jane and the kids would probably freak out if they found that shit still wedged in my armor. Thankfully they’d been hidden earlier, coated by a thick layer of blood and other fluids.

  When I glanced back into the stall and saw the thick puddle of goop left behind, I winced. Jane had every right to be mad, considering how much had sloughed off my gear.

  I dug under the sink and pulled out my spray bottle full of ‘special solvents’. It wasn’t the first time I’d left a massive mess behind. When I returned from Jasper, I’d nearly clogged the drains with refuse, even though I’d rinsed myself off before coming back. Nyx had to provide me with a spray bottle full of flesh melters to clean that mess up. I guess I needed it again.

  I threw the teeth and claws on top of the rest of the sludge, then coated the puddle with a liberal coating of nanites. Once the slop had been sufficiently thinned out, I re-engaged the shower to carry it all down the drain.

  Evidence cunningly disposed of, and the family none the wiser.

  After that mess was dealt with, I hauled my armor into the cleaner and set it to heavy load. The ultrasonic scrubbers would atomize the rest of the mess, making sure nothing dangerous got left behind.

  Once everything had been taken care of, I dug through the hamper and pulled out an outfit that didn’t smell too bad. I probably could have run down the hallway and grabbed something clean from my room a couple doors down, but that seemed like too much work. I threw the old hoodie and jeans and stepped back into the hall.

  The house was strangely quiet, so I wandered back towards the front to see what was happening.

  All three kids were sitting calmly at the kitchen table, reviewing the tablets laid out in front of them.

  “I’m sorry, I think I must have stepped through a portal into another world somewhere back there,” I announced in mock surprise. “You can’t be the same yahoos I left here a couple minutes ago.”

  “It’s homework time,” Eddie muttered. “Even though we haven’t been to school the last few days, we still have exercises to do. If we don’t, we won’t be able to use our private studies once the Antithesis are taken care of.”

  “Who would impose such an evil rule?”

  “You would,” Jenifer replied. Even though she didn’t look up, a small smile grew on her face.

  “I dun like it,” Issi pouted, without looking up.

  “Well, tough,” I replied as I patted her gently on the head. “I only had three requirements when I gave you that personal space. You do your homework, you let Jane, Alan, or me know where you’re going when you go out, and you return before curfew. You can stop anytime you want, but you won’t be able to visit your garden until you’ve caught up again.”

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  The little girl glanced up and looked me straight in the eyes for a couple seconds, frowning the entire time, before turning back to her tablet. “Dun like it,” she muttered again.

  “Well, I do,” Jane announced from the kitchen. “You three have been very diligent ever since Evelyn set that rule.”

  I watched the kids work, heads down, brows furrowed, for a couple more seconds before I stepped away from the table and into the kitchen.

  Jane was pulling a bunch of different ingredients out of the fridge, piling them up on the counter next to her.

  “Hey, want a hand?” I chirped.

  Jane glanced up, pushed her long curly brown hair out of her face, and smiled. “Sure. I went on to the net earlier and found a recipe that would use some of the new ingredients the frogs are growing. How does pumpkin risotto sound?”

  “I have no idea what that is,” I said flatly.

  “It’s rice cooked in a pumpkin puree,” Jane clarified.

  I just stared at her blankly.

  Jane sighed, reached into the fridge, pulled out a tub of orange paste and handed it to me. “Pumpkin is a gourd. The hydroponic frogs grew a test batch. Since they grow bigger than a person’s head, they couldn’t send a full one. Instead they just sent the puree in one of the reusable vegetable delivery tubs.”

  I didn’t say anything for a couple seconds and just stood there staring at the paste in my hands. “What’s a gourd?”

  “Alright, now I know you’re messing with me,” Jane declared, snatching the tub out of my hands.

  “Hey! I was going to help!” I said, a smile creeping across my face.

  “Then you can find the spices,” Jane replied.

  A second later I received a short list of spices in my augs, which caused my smile to fall. “I’d rather do the cooking.”

  “Too bad, you lost cooking privileges,” Jane announced. “Find those spices!”

  “I’ll find your spices,” I mumbled under my breath as I stomped over to the spice cupboard. Since the food-growing operation had been such a success, I had expanded it several times during the past year. It turned out one of the biggest growing pains wasn’t growing the food but figuring out how to distribute it.

  Early on the locals could just line up outside, and we could drop a couple of vegetables in their hands. That became infeasible within a couple of weeks, so we needed to come up with a new system. That’s when we created the reusable plastic boxes.

  Each day the frogs would put a different selection of vegetables into a small tub, and one would be passed out to each person. If someone wanted a different option or a little extra, they could get it for a small fee.

  The system worked. Or at least it did once I figured out the distribution trucks and box return programs. I was slowly ironing out all the issues, but there were still a couple kinks. Like herbs and spices.

  I opened the cupboard and stared at the two dozen identical, unlabeled containers. I quickly checked the list before I started pulling out random boxes and checking what was inside. We had several different sizes of delivery boxes but since they were all reused, nothing was labeled. It wasn’t a problem when you had a large box and could recognize the vegetables, but when you had tiny boxes full of various dried herbs? A little more difficult.

  “What does sage look like? Little sticks or tiny black balls?” I asked helplessly.

  “It looks like leaves,” Jane laughed.

  “That’s like half of these! Be more specific!”

  “It’s a stalk with medium-sized oval leaves that might be a little fuzzy,” Jane explained, suppressing a giggle. “You want me to describe the salt and pepper?”

  “No, I know what those look like,” I grumbled as I fished out what I could only assume was sage based upon the description.

  “You sure? Because pepper, before it gets ground up, comes in tiny black balls called peppercorns.”

  I paused for several moments. “I knew that.”

  “Sure you did,” Jane laughed. “Hurry up and bring everything up here. I’ve got everything else prepared.”

  I lugged my armful of little boxes to the counter and dumped them next to the prep area. Jane immediately patted me on the head. “Well done. Do you really want to do the cooking? If so, I’ve got everything set up by the stove. Everyone’s hungry, so we should probably get going.”

  “I guess,” I muttered, “Playing with fire does make me feel better.”

  Jane shot me a look, so I threw up my hands. “Joking! Send me the recipe, and I’ll do my best to follow it. It’s been awhile since I’ve cooked for everyone.”

  “And I’m sure everyone will love it,” Jane assured me. “It's been awhile since we’ve all been home at the same time. We should do something fun tonight!”

  “I guess that’s one advantage of the alert,” I replied lightly, before turning to the table. “Game night tonight?”

  “Chessers!” came Issi’s immediate squeal, followed by a chorus of groans.

  “We’ll see,” I said noncommittally before turning back to the stove, a massive smile on my face. “It’s only been a couple days, but I’ve missed this. A quiet night at home sounds good.”

  “DONE!” Issi declared in a defining shriek before standing up and diving headfirst across the couch.

  “Quiet?” Jane asked with a smile.

  “Close enough,” I replied with a smile.

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